I got sick of Juile last Saturday when I got home and found out that she didn't need me and lied aobut trying to reach me all week. I basically said that's it in a way. She said in a voicemail that was left after I had left for SnB (when she knew I was gone and not going to get it till too late) to go and have a good time with my friends. So...I'm going and havinga good time with my friends this weekend. Some friends of mine are picking me up this weekend from SnB and we're hanging out. Julie had to make other arrangements for the kids. Oh well. Her problem not mine. At least I had the courtesy to give her notice, unlike she gave me. Chances are I'll be with my family next weekend. Guess it's not so great to be her. Second of all, I am back in touch with "Egg Donor." I'm referring to her as "Mom Debbie" that way I can still call my step-mom "Mom" and not confuse the heck out of everyone. We'll be meeting Sunday for coffee. Don't worry everyone. I'm being careful and not getting my hopes up. I'm also not telling Mom and Dad till September. My friend Robbyn and I had fun with the security guy this week where we go Tuesdays. He was on vacation last week so he heard all about his poor fill-in's. Plus we're were our usual selves (nicknamed Trouble & Double-Trouble where we go Tuesdays). So it's been a fun week.Looking forward to Diane, Robbyn and I going to the Book Barn tomorrow afternoon. We may even go to Dagmars. Two non-knitters taking a knitter to a yarn store....this will be interesting if it happens.

Am I Loosing Being Patient & More than Fair?

I know I've posted about the kids and my babysitting sagas. Well, I've hit my limit with the mom. I don't get the common courtesy of being told when she doesn't need me 95% of the time. Yesterday was a perfect example.

I'm all set to watch the kids. Even ready to go before they get off hte bus. Have I been told that the mom's boyfriend is now watching them on Thursdays? No. Not at all. Not even given an indication. I find out by going up to the car and the mom ("J") rolling down her window and asking me if I wanted a ride down to the shop. Today when I'm talking to her mom, her mom mentions something about the kids being busy this weekend. THat I might want to call "J." I've called "J" and left her a message knowing I won't hear from her before I leave for knitting in the morning even though I said in the message it's ok to call me when she gets out of work and wake me up.

I've hit the point that I'm going to tell "J: that I'm going to go on in my life and make plans. If she needs me, to give me 24 hours notice minimum and I'll watch the kids unless it's a weekend I'm going to my parents. On those weeks though I will make sure I have other arrangements set up though. Am I being fair? This happens so many times, me not getting the courtesy of being told. Or am I just being a frustrated person.

All was going fine until after I got back from knitting. That's when everything went to hck in a handbasket and I'm still trying to put myself back together. I call him my cousin (he's Mom's sister's son) and his wife have been expecting a baby. The baby was due Sunday. I made a blanket for the baby. Well, the baby died. One day everything is going along nice and smoothly. The due date is less than a week away. Everything goes perfectly fine at the doctor's office. THe next day the baby is dead. He didn't even get to be born alive. How cruel can life be? Give me all the rationale you want, it's not going to help right now. Plus I had to babysit and the 13 year old was being a pain int the butt. I'm at the point of telling his mom that if he gets out of line like he has been this past week a few more times she can find herself a new sitter. I'VE HAD IT WITH KIDS THAT THINK THEY CAN TALKBACK AND GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING!!!Yes I'm in a bad mood. Don't even get me going on the other people at the electric company today (customers not employees).
Mood:beyond irate

What a past couple weeks

It's been a little busy here to say the least. I've finally gotten over being sick. That took a wonderful month. It's still been busy here. I'm babysitting 1 afternoon and 2 nights a week. Plus my group, advisory board, it's committees (I've joined 2 Ad Hoc committees), and all the other things in life.
Babysitting is going along smoothly for the most part. With the kids at least. I say the kids bit because last weekend I had a little problem with the adults downstairs. I had only 1 of the kids as the other one was spending the night elsewhere. The child (10 yrs) and I were asleep and I wake up hearing slamming doors, yelling and whatnot downstairs (I watch the kids at their home). I go down and politely ask the people downstairs to quietdown as I have a child upstairs trying to sleep as well as I am. Also it's midnight. Half an hour later they're still going at it and throwing things. I've had it and go down to tell them that the cops are being called. It's reached beyond rediculious. I'm begged not to. The guy across the hall tells them that if they make 1 more noise he'll call the cops. A fistfight breaks out within seconds so the guy and I both call the cops. I've also told the child who they woke up to get her things together. I was taking her to my place. THankfully her mom leaves her car for emergencies. Apparently when the cops showed up some people ran, but the people that didn't got mouthy with the police and ended up getting arrested. Hopefully things quiet down and I adjust to the new schedule soon. Yeah it's been 2 months and I still haven't adjusted to not being home 2 nights a week. At least the kids are good when they're with me and I can knit while there.

Interesting week

Let's see, cooking corned beef for the first time, getting stuck at the local prison, yelling at one of the kids I watch, having a quick hear to heart with same kid in the same night, calling the police asking for a saftey check, getting stuck twice at the lab, and getting a reputation at the docs office. I'd say it was a well rounded week. I'll break it all down.

Corned beef -- I've never made it before. My mom always makes it and I love it. Since I couldn't be with my family yesterday I thought I'd make it myself. The cooking impaired one making a big dinner like that with a smoke detector that goes off at the drop of a hat. The stove, me, meat, and everything else survived thankfully. In fact it went well enough I'm planning on doing it again next year for the whole family.

Getting stuck at the prison -- This should have been a sign to me yesterday morning that the day was not going to run smoothly. The bus I take to knitting goes into the prison each time by. I have no clue why but it does. Near the entrance there's a little circle it can go around, but the drivers have been told not to. This driver decides to anyways. Also there's a pickup truck in the circle. The driver cuts it too short and the rear wheel goes up over the curb. Thanks to the watterlogged ground with snow on top of it as soon as he jumps the curb the bus got stuck in the mud. No just stuck though. That rear tire was buried up to the axle. Rather the axle was resting on the curb. Thank you driver. We can't go anywhere. A mechanic comes and confirms this, brings us pasesngers to where other busses get together hourly so we can all continue with our day and the bus got towed out.

THe kids -- also I had kid duth last night and one of them was in a bad mood and I had to be the mean babysitter instead of my usual nice and fun side. Telling the kid that they're going to bed early, all that lovely jazz. Not 30 min later I'm having to have a heart to heart with the same kid over a scene in a movie that was on TV.

Calling the police -- R and I hadn't heard from D all week and we were worried about her. She wasn't answering her phone or returning our calls. What does the crisis team tell me to do when I call? I get told to call the police and ask for them to go out and do a saftey check on her. By the way we were in the middle of a winter storm at the time. THe police were nice enough to take all the info and told me that they would but it would be a while. In the meantime D calls. So I had to get her off the phone so i can call the police back and tell them that D called and is ok.

I sure hope that this upcoming week is quiet.

When it comes to me and kids, I can handle the serious stuff. Give me: you need stitches (I can handle minor cuts and scrapes too). Give me you're in respriatory or cardiac arrest. I can handle you're choking too. I can take sprained ankles and broken bones. Give me anything along that kind of stuff and I'm perfectly fine. I can swing right into motion without thinking twice. Give me you don't feel good ...your sick. What am I going to do? I'm going to look at you like you have 3 heads while I shush the adrenaline and figure out what to do. I haven't raised kids. I live vicariously through others in this department. I don't know off the top of my head what to do for a 10 year that's got an upset stomach besides hold the asprin.
Last week I got 2 crash courses in parenting. Previous posts have covered 1 of them a bit. Looking back at them it's rather scketchy and behind the cut covers both of them with a little humor. I can laugh now.
So Monday night's Crash Course: What to do for a 10 year old that had an upset stomach in the middle of the night.

Scenario: You are going upstairs into your apartment on the 3rd floor. The 13 and 10 year olds that you are taking care of are asleep in the main part of the house 1 floor below you on the second floor. You told them when they went to bed that if they needed anything during the night and the downstairs lights were off you would be right upstairs. As you open the door to your apartment to go from the 2nd to the 3rd floor you hear the 10 year old "C" call you from the bathroom and say that they don't feel good. You go in and discovet that they have thrown up (thankfuly in the toilet so no cleanup). What do you do? Remember you have not had experience with this before (at least with children and thankfully the sight of emesis doesn't make you sick)
In my world I sat down with her and felt her forehead. Not warm. Good.
Asked if she wanted any Pepto {Bismol}. Refused. Me thinking ok, what next...

Asked her what mommy usually does. She's doesn't remember. Me thinking ok...

I look up and see a washcloth...Score. Wet it and put it on her forehead. She feels a little better. Good.
Ask if she wants to lay in the living room. No, she wants to go back to bed. Ok.

Get her back to bed with another washcloth (other one used to wipe mouth), told to make sure she stays on side, and given a bowl just in case.

Then leave her mom a voicemail and call a friend to make sure I did right. Think My crash course is over yet...Nope. I ended up staying up with "C" for another 4 hours with her getting up sick 2-3 times an hour. Couldn't come up with anything else to do for her. She kept refusing pepto, figured if her mom wanted her to have it then her mom can make her take it when she gets home. Finally her mom came home didn't get message till shift was over and took over. Thus ending my crash course in parenting till 2 days later and another incident which I could handle.2 days later...It's mid afternoon and "N" and "C" want to go downstairs and say hi to the downstairs tenant. "N" wants to hang out. I say ok and as for the hanging out as long as it's ok with them. Next thing know there's yelling and crying. I walk into the other room. They are yelling at each other"C" through tears and is holding her arm. What to do? Noone to call in this case and it's storming out (everything is icing).

Starters...get them to stop. I'm not even going to try and sort out who did what to who. I just tell them their mom can sort it out when she gets home. Since "C" was in the room first she gets to stay in that room to watch tv. "N" can either go upstairs in the grandparents room to watch tv or in the other room where I am and do the same. hey they both wated to watch tv and there's nothing else to do.

now that they are separated swing into evaluation mode. What hurts? Arm/Wrist. Apparently "N" twisted it. Can you move it? "C" does. Can you move your fingers? good. I check for swelling and there's none nor any bruising. BY now I'm sinlently cursing the sibling out. Go make ice pack and give it to "C" with instructions to keep it on. I'll chek on her, but if anything changes let me know. So we all survived intact, sane, and ready to go another day. Do I want to keep watching the kids??